Game of Shattered Hearts
by NocturnalSpaceWhale
Summary: Rewind the hourglass and the memories dance in front of Bakura's very eyes, guiding his former self on his quest for revenge. It's just a game. A game he plays over and over with the same results. They are just memories after all. Geminishipping


**Author's notes:**

Welcome to my first Geminishipping fic, a pairing I have been almost obsessed with lately. It completes the circle! I have now written all three bakushipping pairs in my stories! *cheers*

Yugioh does not belong to me o3o

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The Thief King stood at the top of the valley cliffs, looking down at the large village in the distance. The howling winds blew strands of his moonlight hair out from his head cloth. He smirked as he took in the view of the lit up huts below. Lively, even during the night, with commotion bustling in every corner. After filling his share of the view, he pulled on the reigns of his horse, forcing it to turn around, walking away from the edge and his minions robed in black.

He rode back to his camp, back to his tent, where he took off his blood red cloak, fit for any king, including the king of thieves. The tomb robber sat himself down on his bed sheet, closing his eyes.

When he opened them, Bakura stood in front of his, arms crosses, his dark eyes flickering with an emotion the thief did not know of.

"Just the man I wanted to see." Akefia said.

"You mean spirit." He growled, hovering to the Thief King's side.

The man chuckled, throwing up his curved dagger in the air, admiring its fine craftsmanship and how it shined in the dim light of the torches outside.

"Beautiful isn't it?" He mused, running a finger along its sharp edge. "I took it from another priest today. I think it reflects off of her beauty. What was her name; that healer… Isis was it?"

The thief laughed darkly at her name. "Your advice was perfect once again. Separating her from the Pharaoh then using Diabound to kill her weak monsters…"

He held up his decorated fingers, lifting them slowly, one by one.

"How many has it been now… One… Two…"

He stopped.

"Seven."

"Only Priest Set and Priest Mahado's apprentice remain." Bakura reminded him.

"A walk along the Nile." Akefia laid back.

"You would have never made it this far if it wasn't for me."

The thief flashed the spirit a genuine smile, smirking slightly. Bakura sat down on the sheet beside him, leaning down to look at him affectionately.

"What's with that look?" Akefia questioned as he caught his gaze. "Don't get sentimental with me you cold blooded killer."

"You're the one who has the blood stained on his hands."

"Oh yeah?" The Thief King propped himself on his elbow to look at the pale teen. "I would say the guilt would have already pierced deep within your heart if you had one."

Bakura turned away, saying nothing.

Akefia bit his tongue against another comment, all of a sudden regretting his choice of words.

"So what's next game master?"

The spirit looked back at him, struggling with his eternal decisions, locking on with the Thief King's dark red eyes. He had gained his complete trust, even without his actual physical presence being there.

The spiky white haired boy with strange clothing placed himself in the tomb robber's life, raising him from the day of the Kul Elna massacre. He shielded the scarred boy from the Pharoah's soldiers and taught him.

He taught him how to grow, how to hunt, how to hide, and how to kill.

Bakura watched the scared, honest, heart broken boy of the lost village of Kul Elna become the menacing scourge of all of Egypt.

And there was always the regret he had buried inside his conscience; or whatever remained of it.

He could have told him to leave.

He himself chose for the thief to become who he was today.

But he could have changed his mind.

There was something within him that wanted Akefia to put his revenge for his family behind him. To stop him from walking into the palace the next day.

However, it was far too late for reason. Not that he wanted to suggest it to him anyways… It was always that lingering thought.

Bakura caught Akefia moving closer to him when he didn't respond.

"We storm the Pharaoh's palace, what else?" He muttered silently.

"Got a game plan?"

"Is this what you think I see this as?" Bakura demanded, arching his back.

"No…" Akefia chuckled. "You just seem to know everything that was going to happen. You're the one who taught me how to read and write. You save my life constantly. My life is in your hands. I think it's appropriate to say that you're the one who is controlling the game of my life."

"Whatever…" He closed his eyes.

"I'm going to get the throne tomorrow, Bakura. Just you watch."

The spirit lowered his head as he saw the thief smile with pride. He lifted one of his hands, placing it on Akefia's right cheek, softly stroking the ancient scar he had received when he was very little. It had been so long ago, how had he got it again…?

Akefia held the transparent hand, leading them both down to the sheet, lying on their sides facing each other.

"I trust you." The Thief King whispered before he drifted off. "I always have."

Waiting for the man next to him to start breathing deeply in the lull of sleep, and for the flame outside to extinguish, Bakura stepped outside of the tent into the chill of the desert night. He looked up into the star filled sky, a light blue band stretching across from one horizon to the next, small pricks of different colored ice decorating the splashes of space.

In the middle of it, a large shadowy pyramid surrounded by five spikes hung ominously, unseen by any other spectator.

The monstrous roar of hooves in the distant awakened the villagers with a jolt of panic. The smoke ascended into the air, followed by pillars of fire. Arrows of fire and flint fired in all directions, striking the unfortunate, raining down death.

They parted for the parade of the King.

The silver haired king on the jet black stallion with his monstrous Ka flying beside him.

Bakura watched as the madness uncoiled.

The remaining soldiers of the city surrounded the entrance to the Pharaoh's palace. The old, the weak, the injured men of the city joined to surround them as well, picking up whatever weapon they could find.

Akefia ordered his men to halt before their awaiting audience. He recognized the look on their faces. Their defiant gaze full of pride for their Pharaoh, unfaltering even in the brink of death, determined to avenge their fallen family members that had been slaughtered weeks ago by the Thief King's army.

"Kill them." Bakura ordered.

"Kill them." Akefia echoed.

Within minutes, the Tomb Robber entered the royal hall of the King's alone with his Ka, spreading his arms apart for a warm welcome.

"Déjà vu, isn't it Pharaoh?" He grinned madly. "Just like the time we had our first encounter, when I dragged the body of your dead father into this hall. I was welcomed so poorly back then. I hope things have changed. I mean, I'm looking at your guards right now and all I see are… Just two."

"Thief King! This tyranny ends now!" The Pharaoh's voice rang out just as loudly throughout his court.

"Oh quite the opposite my Pharaoh." Akefia bowed mockingly. "I believe the tablets of destiny have turned in my favor now."

He pointed a finger towards the High Priest.

"Your precious Blue Eyes is gone because of me."

Set clenched his fists tightly, frame shaking as he tried helplessly to fight back his anger and tears.

He turned to the Magician's apprentice.

"Your master is buried beneath the rocks thanks to me. His tablet destroyed."

Bakura grinned.

"Monster!" Mana screeched.

"And finally…"

The Pharaoh tensed on his throne.

"Two of your three Egyptian Gods are defeated."

Akefia raised his summoning disk.

"And I'm here to eliminate the third."

Diabound howled, his voice sending vibrations onto the walls, shaking the building to its very core.

"Get ready. The Dark Magician Girl is about to reveal herself." Bakura announced.

Mana raised her staff chanting, stepping in front of the Pharaoh.

"Followed by Duos"

The High Priest raised his arm to call forth his monster.

"And Obelisk."

A pillar of light shone from the sky, bathing the Pharaoh with a blinding blue. A colossal being appeared behind the young king, taking its battle position, red eyes glaring at Akefia's Ka, its old rival of equal strength.

"So… Its god tier Ka versus god tier Ka." He licked his lips. "I've been waiting for this day."

Diabound disappeared instantly, hiding by the shadows of the palace.

Mana ordered her Dark Magician Girl to attack Akefia directly, ignoring his maniacal smile.

"Silly girl, I thought Mahado trained you well…"

Diabound emerged right in front of his master, shielding him from the harmless blast, absorbing its power. A great white light emanated from the monster's hands, growing with size until it burst, evaporating the girl's ka immediately.

Mana clutched at her chest, coughing up blood on the squeaky clean floor. She doubled over, releasing her staff, and laid on the ground unmoving.

"Mana!" The Pharaoh screamed, rushing from his throne to her side.

"Don't be distracted by such a loss Pharaoh. The only reason I didn't kill her earlier was because I knew this would be a much more horrible moment for you if I saved her for something like this."

Bakura nodded, unable to help his growing smile.

"Strike now." He said.

Diabound's wing spread out wide, releasing another beam of light towards the king. Priest Set stepped in at that moment, his monster deflecting the attack.

"As if I don't know that trick villain!" He challenged. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon's white lightning isn't it? Nice try. But it won't work on me."

"How touching." Akefia commented to both the High Priest and the Pharaoh as he saw Mana began to fade away into sand. "It's too bad that isn't the only move Diabound knows. Helico Shockwave!"

An invisible force struck the High Priest's monster, as he fell onto his knees, bleeding from his forehead. The monster gave a cry of anguish before it vaporized into dust.

"Without your other monsters Set, you are useless. Plus leading all those lost souls into battle the days before must have strained heavily on you. You can't last long anymore. Let me help you end this."

Diabound started to fire up another round of his signature move until Obelisk moved in the way, throwing a hard punch on the thief's Ka, making him grasp his stomach in pain.

"Dodge you idiot." Bakura snarled, watching the battle unfold. "Your Ka is only on par with a god. Don't expect Obelisk to be that easy."

"Set! Leave this to me." The Pharaoh stood up from his golden throne.

"Finally tired of hiding behind your friends aren't you? Kukuku… Pharaoh this will be interesting."

"Let's say we end it with everything we've got."

"Let's." Bakura said.

A godly light shrouded the king and Obelisk imitated it, adding on to his power. The Pharaoh shot the Thief King a deathly gaze, ready to meet on the clash of kings with full power, determined to win.

Akefia let out a long string of laughter, making sure the entire village could hear him, a dark shadow surrounding him and Diabound together. They grew stronger by the second, using all his hatred to fuel their bond. He turned to Bakura before allowing him to be completely consumed by the power.

"I trust you." He mouthed.

The two gods fired at each other, the white light of Diabound turned deathly black, meeting Obelisk's gigantic fist in the heat of the battle, both generating the same amount of energy.

Akefia struggled, and so did the Pharaoh. They stood their ground as their arms began to bleed. They didn't falter from the attack as they both gave it their all. The two monsters mirroring their own drive continued to shake the palace, the city; all of Egypt.

Bakura felt his own form distort, looking directly at the source of their powers. He looked to the Pharaoh, his long hated enemy, connecting his own feeling to the thief's supporting him with his rage.

It would all end here.

It never began at all.

A turn in the tables made Obelisk crack, he stumbled as the fire around his fist extinguished while Diabound advanced forwards.

"No!" The Pharaoh felt his life force drain away in pain as he saw his final god being struck down by the Thief King. The black light swallowed the throne room, consuming his body into the darkness. He tried to cling to Obelisk's light but it too, died out. The High Priest's body disappeared into the abyss and right before the god was torn apart by the very life force that held it up, pulling the Pharaoh along with it, he met with the King of Thief's demonic red eyes.

No, it never even started.

Bakura held the puzzle and the rod in his hand, glaring at them with disgust.

While Akefia advanced to the throne, a hollow silence fell around them, the only sound being his light footsteps and Diabound breathing.

"Finally!" He laughed, claiming the throne.

"FINALLY!"

"My past!"

"My family!"

"I have claimed my revenge!"

"**I. AM. THE KING**."

_No._

The new Pharaoh raised his arms in triumph, leaning back on the golden chair. But most of all, the look on his face was satisfaction. His eager crimson eyes looked at Bakura's passionately.

"I did it." He whispered, shaking. "Egypt is mine."

Bakura slowly walked over to the Thief King.

_No!_

"Yes… You have accomplished your goal."

"I couldn't have done it without you though, Bakura!"

"A new dawn will arise with a new king."

"And that king will be me!"

_Please stop!_

"I owe everything to you. Bakura…"

The light in the spirit's eyes changed with the atmosphere in the palace.

"What…?"

Akefia looked around startled by the walls slowly turning into brittle sand.

"What?!"

Diabound howled with suffering, a cry from the depths of his heart consumed with the sadness of the other Ka he had acquired within him with every kill.

They all rose up to scream.

"BAKURA!" The King of Thieves cried out desperately, pleading with his voice but the spirit did not respond.

His Ka began collapsing with the walls behind him, screeching with sorrow as it began to be eliminated from the game. His pain transferred to the thief.

"Please!" The Tomb Robber fell to his knees, unable to support himself up on the throne any longer from the sadness. Tears filled his agonizing eyes. "Please Bakura…"

_No, don't do this!_

He gasped harshly when the pain reached his chest, the terrifying memories of Kul Elna returning to him. The spirits of his family members joined Bakura's side, closing on the thief.

He clasped his wrist violently, leaning in to meet the Thief King's pained sight.

"Please…" Akefia begged.

"It's like you said." Bakura's voice haunted the thief's body to the soul, a demonic voice taking the place of his normal tone. "I control the game of your life."

The room crumbled to darkness. The golden throne melted into blood. The mighty killer of the Nile sobbed uncontrollably before the spirit, unable to meet his gaze any longer.

"I trusted you…"

_**STOP!**_

Ryou Bakura laid whimpering before the dark form in front of him, unable to move his body with the Yami clutching his wrist harshly, digging his nails into his sensitive flesh.

"Stop doing this to me!" He thrashed, tears flowing from his eyes. "Stop torturing that poor man! You do this every time! I can't handle it!"

"Shut up!" Bakura yanked the boy's hair away, facing the boy in rage. "There is no way you could possibly understand this!"

"NO! I don't!" Ryou gasped between sobs. "I don't understand why, why you love to do this again and again…"

"You take him, you raise him, and you loved him. Then you break it all down. You break his heart… You break his heart even when there was already nothing left…"

"Shut up…"

"You lead him through his life," Ryou stared into the dark red eyes of the spirit. "You help him, you carry out his goals, and you really did show him how to live. You really did love him!"

"Shut up!"

"You loved him anyways but you decided to kill him in the end anyways!"

"He was already dead anyways!"

"Yes. Yes he was!" Ryou screamed, clawing at Bakura's hand helplessly. "But that still isn't an excuse to tap into your memories and live through it all again. Not to restart your horrible fantasy, knowing every crook and turn, playing with the different possibilities of the outcomes in the end. You made him King! But what difference does it make?! You're the one who kills him over and over."

"SHUT UP!" Out of the darkness of their soul rooms, in a wild frenzy, Bakura pulled up a majestically curved dagger from out of nowhere, plunging it in Ryou's flesh.

The noise that came out of the boy was_ satanic_.

"Hold still!"

Right underneath Ryou's right eye, the knife dragged a long gash deep and rough. Bakura lifted the knife out, and sliced two horizontal lines across that wound, pushing him down onto the floor.

Clutching his right eye, Ryou howled and cried and kicked and clawed the sickening air around him. Curling up into a ball he stared at Bakura with his good eye with the same amount of hatred he felt the King of Thieves had for the agony in his life. All of a sudden he forced himself to stop crying.

"It is not up for you to decide what I do with my memories!" Bakura threw the knife beside the boy. "You don't understand it at all. What happened three thousand years ago. What happened so many lifetimes ago! You don't understand the darkness like I do. Just shut up. Shut up, you pathetic host!"

With blood dripping down the side of his face, Ryou removed the hand clenching his right eye. He slowly opened the blood soaked eye.

"You're right." He shuddered. "I don't know. But I do know you need me to open his memories don't you?! Shadow game master, you need us both. You're the one who introduced his soul to evil. You're the one who lead him into the darkness. Why must you play with him like that? Treating him as a game piece."

"In the end you are all just pawns."

"_He loved you_…" Ryou whispered gently, wiping the gore away from his face with his sleeve. Bakura flinched uncharacteristically, taking a step backwards.

"And now I'm in your hands too aren't I? That's why you use my body. You use my memories as well, pretending to be me in front of my friends. Are you going to kill me just as you did with the Thief King when your done with me as well?!" Tears stung his eyes, training down his cheek onto the newly formed scar.

Bakura said nothing.

He turned around, back facing Ryou Bakura.

"I will not make the mistake of trusting anyone else ever again…"

And with that, he left the boy alone with the memories.

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I would love if you told me what you thought about it in a review but otherwise, thank you so much for reading, I hoped you enjoyed it.


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